Month: October 2018

Name brand have a huge stake in the market that is both men’s style as well as women’s. One cannot go long without hearing the name “Gucci” be used in a sentence, maybe describing the new $100-dollar t shirt they bought from the store, or perhaps describing their current situation as “all is Gucci bro”. Today, will discuss the hype in men’s wear, from the top fashion houses such as Gucci and Tom Ford, to the streetwear labels that rule the scene such as Supreme and Off White. Ill attempt to shine a light on the potential damage that they incite and create on style, but give credit where credit is due, and point out their benefits as well 

It is easy to see why top fashion houses like Gucci or Louis Vuitton get a bad rep. A simple hoodie with the Gucci logo, one of their best-selling items in 2018, retails for $1280. If your first thought is not something along the likes of “but why would anyone ever??”, then you have more money than me, good for you.  

Now, no kind of quality will ever justify paying 4-digit numbers for a simple hoodie. When one buys these type of pieces, they buy them for the prestige that comes with the hoodie. It’s an exclusivity, an attempt by many to portray themselves as powerful or rich, yet it, at many times, has the opposite effect. Gucci is not the only culprit by any means, for brands like Louis Vuitton and Fendi have always exploited their very recognizable logos to sell more merchandise at a higher retail price. Yet, there is a side to high fashion that is rather left untouched and unnoticed, a side in which the people buying the clothes don’t do it for the brand name, but for the appreciation of the specific piece they’re buying. When one enters such a store, you’ll be sure to find exotic jackets, handmade shoes, bespoke suits and more; All hand-stitched, worked by specialists, taking 10 times the amount of time it would take for an all machine process to create the “same” product. That’s a good reason to drop thousands of dollars in these brands, for the satisfaction of knowing that you have something unique, part of you and your personal style, and not some regular hoodie with “Gucci” stamped across the front. 

Now, the above brands have a history of being high quality and exclusive to the rich, embodying the idea of luxury. Hype brands, however, are rather new, and have introduced a whole new meaning to dropping 4-digit numbers on a hoodie. Take these two brands, for example. Supreme is infamous for being worn by teenagers and young adults across the world, with shirts ranging from 200 to over 1,000 dollars in resale. However, that’s resale. Supreme t-shirt usually goes for 60 dollars retail but are produced in such low quantities that it’s almost impossible to grab one the day they launch. That is where the hype comes from, driving people to pay, at times, 20x retail on a simple t shirt or hoodie. Now take the brand Off White. Their clothes already start at a ridiculous price, ranging from $700 jeans to over one thousand dollars for shoes. Off white is, however, much more luxurious in their craftsmanship, with past designer Virgil Abloh having been picked up by Louis Vuitton just this year. The brand brings forth more unique piece than Supreme does, going back to that idea of singularity and personality in style. If one must drop exuberant amounts of money on pieces like these, they must feel unique to the wearer, and be something other than a simple logo t shirt.  

 

Paying college tuition levels of money for luxury clothing is not a sin automatically. As long as one understands the history and truly justifies their purchase, it’s no biggie. However, if you instead wish to pay close to $1300 dollars to be a walking add, then please be my guest.

The plethora of unhelpful or plain out wrong dogmas out there, claiming positive mindsets and self-help as their foundations, can be overwhelming to swim through. However, today I’ll save you some time and let you in on a dogma/saying that, to me at least, has shown true. Push yourself out of your comfort zone. Humanity has always improved and moved forward thanks to individuals or collectives that decide to push through the status quo. Now, this is a fashion blog, so I’ll relate this back to the idea. Our image we show the outer world, what we wear, has more weight and value today than ever before. Today, however, we have an uncountable amount of options in fashion, from streetwear to classic wear to anything in between, we really live in the golden age of fashion. Given that, if we build up the courage to experiment, even just a little, with our personal image, it will help build that ability to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone. 

 

Now, how would one go about experimenting? Given the plethora of options out there, it might seem impossible to pick the right place to start. It is paramount, however, to understand the importance of simply starting, and not getting hung up on where to start. All that being said, I’ll use my own personal experience and hopefully help you in the journey of style self-discovery. 

Try wearing dress boots or, even dress shoes, with an otherwise casual outfit. A simple t-shirt with jeans outfit can be elevated into chic territory if you push your overworked sneakers out and pair it with a pair of chelsea bootsWhether it’s leather or suede you opt for, it’s a safe way to make a subtle but powerful statement. If you wish to stay in the safer area of experimenting, opt for neutral colors like blacks or browns, otherwise, try subtle blues or even reds as boot colors. Boots also add a good half an inch to your height, which, as a guy with the modest height of 5’11, its always an upside. 

 

Another way to up your style street creed, one a little more forward, is to wear an odd blazer with either a t-shirt or a casual button down. If the shirt option seems to formal for you, a t-shirt and dark blazer look is the base for a stylish look in college campuses. The mere sophistication of being able to wear an otherwise formal piece with the most casual piece of men’s wear, the t-shirt, shows other people that, well, you know what you’re doing. The t-shirt should be minimal in nature, with whites and dark blues being favorable, and the blazer should be dark and well fitted. Couple that with dark jeans and any of the dress boots previously discussed, and you’ll have an outfit worth of a GQ front page cameo. 

 

Eventually, by starting to experiment with your personal style, you will eventually make your image a genuine representation of yourself, given the “Personal” in personal style meaning. Maybe you’ll find out that you hate dress boots, but that you don’t mind wearing brown brogue dress shoes with skinny jeans. You might find that you love to wear pocket squares in your suit pocket but would never be caught dead wearing an otherwise silky noose that is a tie. Maybe you’ll find out that you despise anything formal but do appreciate a casual button down paired with your favorite pair of Nikes. Eventually, you’ll know enough about multiple types of style, from t-shirts to 3-piece suites. That’s the hope, that we will eventually know enough and be able to attend any situation or event and wear the correct attire, not as an uniform, but as a part of ourselves, and that’s is always the most important part. Be yourself, and that includes your style. 

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Don’t dress to cover up, dress for yourself, and for no one else.

Not many things are collectively misunderstood and trust me when I say that runway shows are no different. Only 2 months ago did I come to understand what Catwalks and any other High-fashion extravaganzas seek to accomplish. However, getting back to my previous point, its no wonder why all Americans have a bone to pick with these events. Americans have romanticized the idea of “sticking it to the man”; Couple that with our freedom and encouraged ability to wear whatever we want (or so you think) and you get a love to hate them, hate the Catwalks and the fat cats that run them. Yet we failed to realize how prevalent these runway shows are on the way we wear clothes, how we style them, and where we buy. 

First, ask yourself: If an architect is an artist in his own right, how do they express their creativity and let it flow? Concept models and theoretical ideas. How would a fashion designer, also an artist, do such thing? Catwalks, catwalks are to designers what canvas is to painters. A way to demonstrate their skills in design with over dramatization of people walking back and forth modeling pieces that said models probably can’t afford themselves (sorry, not sorry). Look here, for example, at CDG.

At first glance, yes, it is utterly ridiculous. Who would ever stick themselves in that? Designer came out and actually explained said piece, relating it to how women can feel through the day or in society as a whole, reduced to their bodies and loved for nothing else, as if they’ve been chopped into pieces by our culture (allegedly).

Does Tm Ford really think all white/cream suit and accessories is the best way to rock lights? No, but it might be a way for the designer to show what trends will occur next season, bringing me to the next point. Catwalks let other brands and the public know what will be “in” next season. 

Catwalks dictate what will sell at Zara and H&m next season. Its over exaggeration and dramatization during the runways trickles down, just like economics do (allegedly), and reached us, the peasant masses, in less extreme ways for us to consume. Take this picture here from the Men’s 2018 Fall Winter collection from Sacai, Alexander McQueen, and Versace (left to right).

The over exaggeration of checks and flannels will simply translate into “hey there lumbersexuals, flannel shirts are in, get one and the other one half off” at your nearest Urban Outfitters. Yet we love to make fun of them but are oblivious to the fact that that baggy retro sweatshirt I got at Pac Sun for 50 dollars was probably influenced by the baggy clothes movement pushed by Fashion houses in the 2015/16 season. Ever stopped to think why 90s gear keeps coming back? Houses such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci have pushed this for 3 years now, including this upcoming fall/winter. Every trend and piece in fashion originated, for the most part, in a Catwalk. Maybe now you can wear your favorite denim jacket, knowing full well Cowboys are in in this upcoming season and not feel guilty about it.

 

Love is art made public. So, don’t hate the runways, but rather love to hate those singular quirky pieces, and then buy their trends next season.